DUP's Jonathan Buckley brands £1.2m annual cost of diversity officers in Northern Ireland's health trusts as 'shocking'
Northern Ireland’s health trusts are spending £1.2 million per year for diversity and inclusion roles, figures uncovered by the DUP’s Jonathan Buckley have revealed.
In response to a written question, the Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has set out the annual cost of salaries for diversity and inclusion officers across all Health and Social Care Trusts – which comes to a total of £1,196,000.
Belfast Trust alone spends £526,000 annually on the jobs – which have been branded “woke dogma” by Mr Buckley.
The health service says diversity in the workplace is an asset, for both the organisation and its employees. The HSC website says it is “committed to ensuring that every individual is valued, respected and accepted for who they truly are” and that celebrating “the values, contributions, and diversity” of staff is important.
DEI schemes have come under increased scrutiny across the UK, with growing questions about whether their efforts have been counterproductive. Employers in Northern Ireland have a range of statutory equality obligations they must meet.
Jonathan Buckley described the costs as “shocking”. He said: “This figure, which could amount to over 5 million across the next five years, is a stark reflection of misplaced priorities at a time when our health service faces extreme pressure.
“This question was tabled in February in a genuine attempt to understand the true size and scale of DEI [Diversity, Equality and Inclusion] bureaucracy within our Health Trusts.
“When hospitals are struggling with overburdened staff, capacity problems and waiting lists bursting at the seams, it’s time to properly scrutinise the costs of the DEI agenda.
“The question people are rightly asking is, how can these extortionate costs be prioritised over patient care? There is an endless realm of possibilities for how this money could make a tangible difference in frontline patient care.
“It’s time for a fundamental reassessment of healthcare priorities. We must be vigilant in ensuring that every penny of public money is spent where it is most needed. The people of Northern Ireland deserve more than bureaucratic inefficiency and the advancement of woke dogma in our health service”.